Racing
John Oreovicz, Autos, Open-Wheel 9y

NASCAR gears up for media frenzy

AutoRacing, NASCAR

Playing out over 40 weeks, from the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona on Valentine's Day to Ford Championship weekend a few days before Thanksgiving, NASCAR has the longest season in motorsports.

So why not extend it by a few weeks?

The 33rd annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway kicks off Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina, drawing some 250 credentialed media from all across America, plus Canada and Europe, to the epicenter of stock car racing for four days of interviews and information seeking.

"It gives the media a chance to look ahead to the upcoming season and gather news to share with those fans who in the quote-unquote offseason are hungry to know what they've got to look forward to," remarked Charlotte Motor Speedway vice president of communications Scott Cooper.

"One of the exciting things this year is that the season ended with all that drama in the Chase, and I think there is a lot of momentum heading into 2015," he continued. "We are certainly looking forward to hearing everything that the teams have to talk about heading into the new season."

NASCAR has changed a lot in the last 33 years, and so has the media that cover the sport.

The advent and importance of Internet-based news outlets and social media prompted CMS to retool the media tour in 2014. Instead of busing media members from race shop to race shop around greater Charlotte and nearby Mooresville, everyone was brought together in a central location at the Charlotte Convention Center.

"That was actually media-driven, and it worked very well last year," Cooper said. "With many media these days trying to file their stories immediately, we needed to look at a different format that provided interview opportunities followed by immediate work time."

If the media tour represents four very hectic workdays for the assembled press, it's more of an amusing distraction for drivers.

"It's easy because you get asked the same questions all day long," observed Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing. "By the end of the day, you have a pretty good answer for the few questions you get.

"I don't really put a lot of thought into it ahead of time, but I'm sure when it pops up on my calendar the night before I'll be ready for it the next day."

Cooper believes the CMS NASCAR preseason media tour was the first of its kind and is proud of the track's role as NASCAR's hometown circuit.

"It was a logical fit for Charlotte Motor Speedway to start many years ago because we've always taken a lot of pride in being innovators," he said. "To put together the first media tour was something special, and it was somewhat natural considering most of the team shops are located in this area.

"This tour started 33 years ago, with basically a van with a dozen or so media traveling to different shops, and now I really don't know that there's another preseason in sports that generates as much interest as the Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour.

"We certainly couldn't do it without a lot of cooperation and support from NASCAR and from all of the race teams that help us make it all possible."

Here are some storylines that the ESPN.com motorsports team will be following as the tour unfolds from Monday to Thursday:

• Reaction to the announcement that the 2015 season will be Jeff Gordon's last full season in the Sprint Cup Series

• Analysis of how NASCAR's new rules severely limiting on-track testing might affect the competition in 2015

• A look at how drivers such as Carl Edwards (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Richard Petty Motorsports) are settling in with their new teams

• Reports on all major teams, with details on key sponsorship additions and personnel changes

• Early predictions on Kevin Harvick's most likely challengers as he defends his 2014 Sprint Cup title

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